


Coffee and Cosplay

by mcgarrygirl78



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-09
Updated: 2013-09-09
Packaged: 2017-12-26 01:52:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/960179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“As hard as I tried I couldn’t get Thursday off.  Five people in cybercrimes are going this year.  It’s every geek for themselves.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coffee and Cosplay

“Comic Con!” Penelope walked into the kitchen singing. She stopped when she saw Kevin. “Hey, what are you doing up here?”

“Good morning to you too, Penelope.”

“I'm sorry, I…”

“The coffee on my floor is hideous. And then someone, though I'm not saying it’s me, they burnt the coffeemaker so no one could make any. I've already bought a good cup and now I need another.”

“You burnt a coffeemaker?” Penelope asked. She poured more coffee into her Zoe Washburne mug.

“I have no idea what you're talking about.” He smiled. “Did I hear you singing the song of my people when you walked in?”

“I got V.I.P tickets this year. My goal is to get my picture taken with everyone I love. I heard a rumor on a site I follow that Jonathan Frakes is going to be there. The tickets I have makes security practically obsolete.”

“You need supervision.”

“You're going to be there, right?” Penelope asked.

“I got V.I.P for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. As hard as I tried I couldn’t get Thursday off. Five people in cybercrimes are going this year. It’s every geek for themselves. Gina is going to be there Thursday with Anderson and Toby Griffith from Counterterrorism. I'm trying not to be jealous.”

“It’s never been a good color on you.” She poked him in his arm.

“I'm really trying.”

“Sam is going to meet me there on Thursday evening.”

“Moobs Sam?” Kevin made a face. “My bad…I didn’t mean to say it like that.”

“It’s OK. Yes, Moobs Sam; and he doesn’t have moobs.”

“I know. It was a total gut reaction and it was immature. I'm sorry.”

“I know you are. Sam is excited because this is his first Comic Con. I'm planning to show him the time of his life. I doubt we’ll even sleep.”

“His first Comic Con? Did he grow up under a rock?”

“He grew up in a small town in a family that just got by. Money for things like that didn’t make sense.”

“I get that.” Kevin said. “My family wasn’t poor but my father told me on more than one occasion that my obsessions weren’t going to put him in the poor house. I found another way.”

“Was it illegal?” Penelope asked. How come she didn’t know this about him?

“Sort of...not really. Sort of.”

“Ooh, now you’ve got to tell me.”

“This place is bugged.” Kevin looked around the room. They were alone in the kitchen but he was sure someone, somewhere, was listening.

“Oh c'mon, Kevin. I think we’re past the statute of limitations on things we did when you were 17. You weren’t a hit man for the Mafia, were you?”

“That’s not sort of illegal.”

“Tell me.” She sang it, just as she was singing Comic Con when she walked into the room.

“You know I grew up in Bethlehem, PA right?” Kevin asked.

“Yeah.” Penelope nodded.

“I pimped myself out to Lehigh and Moravian students to write their term papers. It was a lucrative career.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes, I'm serious. I did it from the time I was 14 until I left for college myself. My father knew I was mowing lawns and shoveling snow so he never asked me where I got the money to buy things. He probably never would’ve believed what I was really doing anyway.”

“You're my hero in a lot of ways. Not that I condone that kind of behavior.”

“We all do things we’re not necessarily proud of in our teen years.” Kevin said.

“Mine was mostly mushrooms and cheap wine.” Penelope replied.

“That must have been a California thing.”

“What did you and Gina decide to cosplay this year?” she asked. 

Penelope added two more cubes of sugar to her coffee and leaned against the counter. There was work to do in her lair, there was always work to do. But the truth was that she and Kevin hadn’t talked for a while. There was a lot to say and not a lot of time to say it. This was nice. She missed him. That was one of the things she didn’t have time to say.

“It was a tough call this year…we had our share of battles. Her first choice was Starbuck but I didn’t want to be Sam. She wanted to do Harley Quinn but I didn’t want to be the Joker. Then I wanted to do Xander but she refused Buffy, Anya, Willow, or Cordelia. She almost agreed to Han Solo and Princess Leia, I was going to be Leia, but changed her mind before we sealed the deal. We finally decided on Robin and Starfire.”

“ _Teen Titans_!” Penelope exclaimed.

“It’s a favorite of ours. I'm even swallowing my aversion to wearing tights for any reason because of this. It’s a big deal. What about you and Sam?”

“He’s not going to dress up. You have to bring a boy slowly into these things. I'm going as Lily Potter. Well, Lily Evans really. I just got a dark auburn wig that’s going to set that place on fire.”

“I think dressing Sam up as James might not be so traumatic.” Kevin said. “It’s simple to put on a Hogwarts uniform and a Gryffindor scarf. He might even have fun. C'mon, you know nothing beats couples cosplay. We always had such a great time at all the Cons.”

“I know.” Penelope smiled. “Maybe I’ll talk to him about it. He did say he wanted to get the full Con experience. I don’t think it gets much better than that. Do you want to meet up on Saturday night and get ridiculously drunk and crazy?”

“Are you sure?”

“Sure I'm sure. Though you have to promise to make no mention of moobs. And you are not allowed to get belligerent with Sam if he doesn’t hold the same tenets of canon and fanon that you do. Promise me?”

“I promise.” Kevin held back his impulse to cross his fingers behind his back. “Tell me now, is he Kirk/Spock?”

“No.” Penelope shook her head.

“Is he a _Dark Shadows_ fan?”

“I'm not sure.”

“Is he a Who noob or can he name all twelve Doctors and discuss beyond their most famous episodes?”

“He's a 5.”

“A 5? I'm nearly impressed.” Kevin nodded. “OK, yeah, I’ll talk to Gina about it. I'm sure she’ll want to do it.”

“OK, great.” Penelope looked at her watch. “I have to go. I'm sure my computers are done cross-checking all the public schools in the Cincinnati area with jails in Tennessee and hospitals in Nevada. Don’t ask.”

“I won't. Sounds intriguing though. I’ll see you later?”

“Yeah. See ya, Kevin.”

“Bye.”

Kevin watched her walk away and then went in for one more cup of coffee. It had been so long, he almost didn’t want the conversation to end. But everything ended when it came to him and Penelope. It was always amazing in the moment. Afterwards, not so much. 

He felt a pang in his stomach when he was alone again. Knowing you would love someone for the rest of your life, even if you weren’t in love with them, was hard. They weren’t getting back together but were doing their best to stay friends. Kevin was moving on and so was she. He would be hanging out with her moving on at Comic Con. She would be hanging out with his.

“Hey Kevin.” JJ walked into the kitchen, coffee cup in hand. “What are you doing up here?”

“Well there was an incident with a fire and the coffeemaker on my floor. I'm not saying I had anything to do with it, but there was an incident.”

***


End file.
